Passion's Torment
by Midnyght Saber
Summary: Sub-plot to "The Power of Love". Tormented by Angel, and currently dating Sam, Danny's heart is not sure who to follow: the human he's known for ages, or the ghost who's pulling ever harder on his heartstrings, promising love with the glint in her eyes.


**Disclaimer: **_Danny Phantom_ and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc. "Snowblind" is the property of Styx and A&M Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

* * *

_This isn't fair! I'm dating Sam now, so why can't I get her out of my mind? I don't even know her, so how can I even consider that I like her?!_

Danny rolled over in his bed, sleep a distant passenger on the far-distant plane of wishful thinking. It was going on three hours that blissful unconsciousness would be evading him, his heart and mind locked in combat over his sudden and inexplicable attraction to the ghost girl that had rescued him and Sam from Skulker in the dream realm.

_Why is it that my thoughts keep turning back towards her like this? I'm with Sam…I _love_ Sam…but what the hell is it that keeps dragging my mind back to her?_

Kicking his legs off of the bed, Danny stood, slowly heading towards the bathroom. Once inside, he closed and locked the door, lowering the lid of the toilet before sitting down, cradling his head in his hands. He understood the full effect that this was going to have on him if he kept hiding this from everyone, knowing that, before long, both his human and ghost forms would be driven insane.

Standing, he turned on the cold water, hating the fact that this was going to keep him awake even longer, and splashed a few handfuls of the cool liquid onto his face before looking up, staring at his reflection.

**Mirror, mirror**

**On the wall**

**The face you show me**

**Scares me so**

_I'm going to be such a mess by the time I manage to figure any of this out, if there's even an answer to all of this._

_Man, how would Sam take this? I just recently stopped gawking at Paulina like a brainless zombie, and now, here I am getting pulled away by a girl I don't even know? This is ridiculous. I don't even know if that girl exists in the first place, and here I am, falling for her like a brick._

_I am so pathetic._

**I thought that**

**I could call your bluff**

**But now the lines are**

**Clear enough**

Toweling off, he returned to his room, the night sky beckoning to him. He listened for a moment to make sure that he hadn't woken his parents and then blasted off into the inviting darkness, sliding into his ghost form as he cleared the window. Coursing upwards through the summers' warm breeze, Danny bobbed and weaved through the clouds, heading in no particular direction, no destination in mind.

**Life's not pretty**

**Even thought**

**I've tried so hard to**

**Make it so**

Danny flew amongst the clouds, spiraling through the warm air and riding the thermals until the first flecks of sunlight began to crawl across the horizon. Vanishing from sight, he fired through the sky, heading home.

He was thankful he'd gone invisible, as his mom had just opened his bedroom door, coming in to wake him up. He turned human and he phazed into his room, remaining out of sight as he slid under his bed. He'd used this trick a few times to switch out of ghost mode without anyone seeing, and he silently prayed that his parents wouldn't think it necessary to keep a better eye on him during the night.

"Danny?"

A thud sounded from under the bed, followed by a muffled grunt of pain.

Maddie bent down, finding her son on the floor beneath his bed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Morning, Mom," he said, stifling a yawn as he crawled out from under the bed.

"You okay, sweetie? That's the fourth time this year you've ended up rolling out of bed during the night."

Danny smirked, still rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I'm just a restless sleeper…or I'm having nightmares that I can't remember."

Maddie placed a hand on her son's shoulder, checking out the spot where he'd bumped his head. "As long as you're okay, seeing as you didn't bump yourself hard enough to cut this time." She stood and left the room, her son externally fine, a huge mess inside.

**Mornings are**

**Such cold distress**

**How did I ever**

**Get into this mess?**

_I have to talk to _someone_ about this. I need some serious help._

Danny got ready for school, heading to the kitchen and grabbing a piece of toast before leaving with Jazz.

"Jazz, do you have a minute?"

"Sure. What's up, little brother?"

Danny looked towards the ground, uncomfortable with the topic he was about to broach. "What does it mean if I dream about a girl that isn't the one that I'm in love with?"

"It depends. What girl?"

"I'm…I'm not even sure she's real."

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you worried about it?"

"Because there's something about this girl that's…pulling me away from Sam."

Jazz's eyebrows furled, and Danny knew that she was delving through piles of memories, searching all that she knew about dream psychology, looking for an answer. "Does she have a name, or do you know why it is that you feel this way towards her?"

"No name as far as I know, and I wouldn't be asking you if I knew."

"I'll do some research in my free time, see what I can come up with, but in the meantime, don't worry yourself too much. It's probably nothing more than subconscious stress because you're not sure how to act like a proper boyfriend for Sam."

"Thanks, Jazz," Danny mumbled. "I'll see you at school. Speaking of Sam, I have to go pick her up."

- - - - -

Danny lay in bed, staring mutely at his ceiling, the situation with the ghost girl, now known to him by the name he'd given her, having become exponentially worse in the last few minutes.

Angel was real.

**Now I'm snowblind**

**Can't live without you**

'**Cause you're so fine**

**I just can't get away**

**Yes, I'm snowblind**

**Snowblind**

**Snowblind**

_What the heck am I supposed to do now?_

He got up slowly, walking towards his sisters' room. He knocked lightly, hoping that she was up late studying, as was her habit right around finals. As luck would have it, he was right, and she called out to let him know that it was okay to come in.

"Danny, you don't look so good. Are you feeling alright?"

"Angel is real, Jazz…the girl from my dream," he said, voice drifting lightly. "She was here just a few minutes ago."

"What for?" Jazz asked, shocked, but refusing to allow Danny to see as much. Finding that the object of Danny's attraction was actually real put all of her previous theories about his 'dream girl' into a totally new light.

"She needed to get into the Ghost Zone."

"Why would that be? And how did she get in? Aren't all the doors locked?"

"She didn't need a door, Jazz. Angel's a ghost."

Now the pieces were really starting to click. "_That_ explains why you dreamt of her."

"Huh?"

"She's a ghost, Danny. Some part of your subconscious is stuck on some idea that Sam is really only in love with your human half…or that because she's only human, she can't fully appreciate the ghost half. Angel fills the void that you've created in the heart, per se, of your ghost form."

"You think that I think Sam only loves half of me? That's insane, Jazz, and you know it. Sam's been there since Day One, and she loves me as Danny Phantom just as much as she does when I'm human."

"Then some part of you is lying to yourself, trying to keep you believing that Sam fully loves the ghostly you. If you're so devoted to Sam, why do you feel that this Angel is tugging at you, calling to you in dreams?" Jazz watched as her brother's countenance fell slightly. "You should talk to Sam about Angel."

"And what if she takes it badly? I mean…we just started dating, and here I am getting myself hung up on someone else."

"If I know her well enough, Sam's not going to be that judgmental. She may take it a little harshly, but I doubt she'd do anything rash. Heck, if all this turns out the way I think it will, she'll help you get past the human-ghost love issue you have."

"I hope so."

- - - - -

**Harmless and innocent**

**You devil in white**

**You stole my will**

**Without a fight**

Sam had been trying to get his attention al through Lancer's class, but he'd blocked her out of his mind every time she tried calling to him. Desperately trying to keep his focus on Mr. Lancer, he wanted to avoid getting called on for spacing out during class, but found that task harder and harder to achieve as his mind wandered on to more pressing concerns.

_What am I supposed to do? I know that Sam loves me for who I am, but what if Jazz is right? How could Sam possibly prove that she truly loves Danny Phantom as much as she loves…_

_Aagh! How can I be thinking this? We're the same person on the inside, only a few minor differences between us._

_Since when have my ghost powers been a _minor_ difference?_

_Aah, there I go again!_

**You filled me **

**With confidence**

**But you blinded my eyes**

**You tricked me**

**With visions of Paradise**

"Mr. Fenton, it would be wise for you to stay with us, as this information will be on the final exam." He looked at the youth, the boy's eyes showing obvious internal turmoil. "Are you alright, Daniel?"

"I'm okay, I guess. I'm a little distracted, worried about finals and all, you know?"

"Alright, but please try to stay alert." He smirked. "Daniel, answer me this: who won the Ancient Mariner's soul and how in _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_?"

Danny brightened slightly, knowing, on his own, the answer. "Life-In-Death won his soul in a dice game she was playing against Death for the souls of the ship's crew."

"Correct," Lancer said with a hint of approbation. "Now, class, the classic poem…"

Despite Lancer's soft warning, Danny began to drift again, maintaining, at the least, the illusion that he was actually paying attention this time.

_Maybe Jazz is right. I'm going to have to talk to Sam about all this. It's the only way that I'm going to be able to know for sure that she loves my ghost…_

_What the hell is wrong with me?! Can't I just stop thinking about this? Sam loves me for who I am, and that's final! Angel will _not_ come between us._

_Damn it all, Angel, what is it about you that has me so messed up?_

**Now I realize**

**I'm snowblind**

**Can't live without you**

'**Cause you're so fine**

**I just can't get away**

_What is it that makes you feel so familiar to me though I've never met you before? Why do you so easily claim a hold on me, plague my mind and pull me from the one that I love?_

_I can't be falling for her, can I? Oh, please don't let that be the case. I'd kill myself fully before I'd let someone get between us and make me break Sam's heart. She means far too much to me for me to let that happen._

**Yes, I'm snowblind**

**Snowblind**

**Snowblind**

- - - - -

Danny took a seat next to Sam, resting his head on the cafeteria table, his tray untouched due to his anxiety-induced lack of appetite.

**And, baby, I'm snowblind**

**Can't live without you**

_This had _got_ to end sometime. I can't keep up having to deal with this. Angel's not going to torture me forever. I won't let her. I _can't_ let her._

…_But how in blazes am I supposed to get her out of my mind?_

"Danny, are you feeling okay? You were avoiding me all through class today."

Suddenly pulled from his thoughts, Danny looked over at Sam. "I'm fine. I've just been thinking." Looking across the table, he noticed that their techno-geek friend had devoured his lunch and promptly passed out.

"About what?"

"I had…another encounter with the ghost girl from our dream."

"You had _another _dream last night?" Sam asked, feigning disbelief.

Danny shook his head. "No. It turns out that Angel's real. She was at my house last night, needing to get into the Ghost Zone." He smirked. "Turns out that she's a fighter just like I am, protecting the humans from any ghosts that attack."

Sam fell silent, her eyes reading him carefully. "There's something else," she said, a mild hint of annoyance in her voice.

_You're going to pummel me if I tell you._

_Now why on earth would I do something like that?_

"It's not that easy to explain, Sam, especially not to you." Danny leaned over, his head making an audible thud as it smacked against the table. He sighed as Sam's hand ran over his back, her fingers caressing the strained muscles along his spine.

_What's bothering you, Phantom?_

Danny flinched under Sam's touch, and she looked at him, wondering if she'd hurt him. He turned his luminescent green eyes to her.

_You say my name just like she does. Maybe…maybe that's why this is happening._

_Why what is happening?_

_I think…it wasn't so bad for me the first time that I met her. That time, it was like running into an old friend you hadn't seen in years. But, last night…finding out that she's _real_…I'm scared. Some part of me, maybe even the fact that I'm half-ghost…is attracted to her._

His eyes shot wide, realizing how much of his feelings for another he'd just admitted to Sam.

_Who is it that you love more, Danny?_

_I don't…I don't think I love her. It's not like when I'm with you when I'm around her, but in the same respect…_ Danny slid closer to Sam, resting his head against her shoulder. _She puts me so much in mind of you for some reason. _His fingers drifted unconsciously upward, tangling themselves in her hair. _You're the one person in my life that I can't resist, and she's somehow so much like you that fighting her makes me feel like I'm trying to push you away at the same time I'm actually trying to do so to her. I don't want her to ruin what we have right now, but it's just…_

"You don't want to lose me because of her."

Danny could only nod.

'**Cause you're so fine**

**I just can't get away**

**Yes, I'm snowblind**

**Snowblind**

**Snowblind**

- - - - -

Sam, Danny and Tucker had just finished the last of their homework, Danny taking a bathroom break as his friends headed downstairs towards the basement theater.

Washing his hands, Danny looked up at his reflection to find, much to his surprise, that his eyes had gone green.

**Mirror, mirror**

**I confess**

**I can't escape**

**This emptiness**

"I can't keep doing this to myself…to Sam. I have to find a way to rid myself of Angel once and for all, but I…" Danny let his voice drift off, silencing the argument he'd been trying to start with himself, finally buckling under the truth of the situation.

"Why the hell did I fall for you, Angel? How can I be so in love with you even though I barely know you, especially since I'm already in love with Sam?"

That biting truth tore at Danny's heart, the half-ghost no longer able to fight the bitter reality, the tortured existence that his life had become since the night Angel walked into his dreams.

With much effort, he forced his eyes to return to their normal color, barely hearing the click of the front door shutting as he walked out of the bathroom. Hanging his head in shame, resigned to his internalized persecution, he headed for the basement, one of the bearers of his heart waiting expectantly for him.

**No more reason**

**To pretend**

**Here comes that**

**Same old feeling again**

- - - - -

"You okay?"

Danny shook his head. _How am I supposed to tell you that I fell in love with Angel? _"She's still haunting me, Sam. There's something about Angel that's driving me insane just because I can't figure it out. Something about her that I can't place…"

Sam looked startled by his comment, and she told him that there was something she needed to get from her room. Once she'd walked out of sight, Danny curled up into a heap in the chair.

_What can I do? I hate this…but I need Angel just as much as I need Sam. Jazz was right. I can't just blindly accept that Sam loves both sides of me. She's just a human. She's…she couldn't possibly love my ghost half…the same way that a ghost could._

**Yes, I'm snowblind**

**Can't live without you**

The doorbell sounded, and Danny looked towards the stairs. _You getting that, Sam?_

_Sure, Danny. Be down in a minute._

Danny listened as she descended the stairs, answering the door. He thought little of the fact that there seemed to be nobody there. As often as he had to deal with kids playing Ding-Dong-Ditch to his folks, he really didn't care.

Then, he heard her scream, and his blood ran cold.

'**Cause you're so fine**

**I just can't get away**

Tearing out of the house, Thermos in hand, Danny found the ghost wolf pawing at the ground in the park, seemingly having lost track of Sam…or worse. Calling out to her with his mind, Danny panicked as he received no answer.

A bolt of white shot out of the trees, tackling the ghost wolf, and then moving out of the way of the blue beam that drew the ghost into the Thermos. Sliding the strap over his shoulder, his eyes met with the teal ones of the girl who had been, as of late, haunting his every waking thought.

"Angel, what are you doing here? And where's Sam?"

"Your beloved is safe, young Phantom."

Danny flinched, the combination of the tone of her voice and Sam's pet name for him tearing at his heartstrings, and he couldn't help the rising feelings of attraction burning through his heart. She was pulling him in, and for once, he wasn't resisting.

"As for my purpose here, it was the same as yours," she said, her hand touching against the Thermos.

Smiling, Danny regarded her. "Thanks. Could you let me know where…"

A searing sensation tore through his body, and he fell to his knees, a pair of cold hands on his wrists. Turning, he found a doppelganger of Angel behind him, her hands cascading ectoplasmic energy over his body.

Angel's cold hand gently ran along the line of his jaw, turning his head to face hers, and Danny felt himself falling into the alluring depths of her eyes. He felt his insides soften considerably as her lips curled into a seductive half-smile. "I thought I saw as much last night."

"What?" Danny asked, confused.

"You're _attracted_ to me, Danny Phantom. I can see it so clearly in your eyes."

Danny pulled his head away, refusing to look at her. _How can you know me so well? Damn it all, Angel, don't do this to me. Where's Sam? _He felt his cheeks grow warm for a moment as her chilled breath caressed his face, his body temperature rising as she neared him, pressing against him softly. "I need to find Sam," he choked out, his heart rushing in his chest.

**Won't you throw me**

**A lifeline**

**I'm going down**

**For the third time**

"Don't you want to stay here with me? Why will you leave me when you know I offer something that the human girl doesn't?"

_You struck right at the heart of my problem…my attraction…my weakness. But I can't let you win, Angel. I won't._

"You can't give me honest, long-term love, Angel. Not yet, at least. We _just_ met."

"You speak as if you know me, yet you cannot even come to terms with what your own heart is yearning for. I could give you more than the human girl could ever hope to."

Suddenly, Danny felt something new rising within him, fiery hot and callous, as the anger and hatred began to course through his veins. Angel had just crossed the line, and he could feel the grip she once had on his heart loosening, his love dissipating. "I love Sam more than anyone else, Angel, and you can't change that fact, no matter how hard you try. I'm not going to stay here and be forced to choose you because you _want_ me to."

"And what if I said that you didn't _have_ to choose?"

Danny turned to her. "Don't you dare imply that option, Angel. I would never allow you to overshadow Sam for the sake of being with me." Furious now, he could feel nothing left where his attraction for her had been. She had just threatened Sam with a fate worse than death, and there was no forgiveness for what Angel was implying she'd do to win him over.

'**Cause I'm snowblind**

**And I can't get away**

"I was never planning on allowing you the _freedom_ to choose, Phantom," Angel mocked back.

Danny's heart stopped as Angel knelt down, pressing her lips against his, her arctic kiss freezing him to his very core. In a single moment, she'd made him violate everything that he and Sam had shared, made him disloyal to the woman he loved. As she pulled away, he hung his head, ashamed and hurt. "You've forced me to be unfaithful to the woman I gave my heart to. You made me betray Sam's trust in me." Fighting back tears, Danny cursed the one that he had once loved, this ghost having transformed from his greatest dream to his worst nightmare. "You're no angel to me. You're nothing more than hell-spawn."

"You didn't betray me, Danny."

The voice was softer, comforting…Sam's. He couldn't believe his ears, looking up at Angel once again. Sam's voice had come from in front of him, but she remained out of sight.

As the clone finally released him and the glowing rings snapped into place around Angel's waist, Danny's mind realized the truth of the ghost female in the nanoseconds before that selfsame reality was revealed to his eyes.

_This is why I couldn't deny Angel. This is why I loved her._

**Yes, I'm snowblind**

**Snowblind**

**Snowblind**


End file.
